US President Donald Trump claimed that Washington armed Iranian opposition groups and protesters during recent anti-government demonstrations. According to Fox News, he stated this in a phone interview with Trey Yingst on Sunday morning, asserting the US sent guns to Kurdish groups involved in the protests.
Key Takeaways
US President Donald Trump claimed that Washington armed Iranian opposition groups and protesters during recent anti-government demonstrations. According to reports, he stated this during an interview with Fox News, asserting the US sent guns to Kurdish groups involved in the protests. The claims have been denied by several Iranian Kurdish organizations.
- Trump says US supplied weapons to Iranian protesters via Kurds
- Iranian Kurdish groups deny receiving arms from the US
- Protests in Iran were sparked by economic crisis and government crackdowns
- Death toll estimates vary widely, with reports ranging from 3,117 to over 20,000
The claims have been denied by several Iranian Kurdish organizations. Mohammed Nazif Qaderi, a senior official from the opposition Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), told Rudaw, an Iraqi broadcaster based in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, that “those statements made are baseless and we haven’t received any weapons. The weapons we have are from 47 years ago.” Other Kurdish Iranian opposition parties also denied Trump’s claim.
The protests in Iran started on December 28 among shopkeepers in downtown Tehran who were angry about a deepening economic crisis and the falling value of the Iranian rial. They soon spread to big and small cities across the country, morphing into nationwide demonstrations as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets.
Estimates of deaths during protests vary widely. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran Mai Soto said at least 5,000 people were killed, with a possible death toll as high as 20,000. Iranian authorities put the number at 3,117, rejecting claims that state forces were responsible.
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